Social Robotics for Autism (SRI)

Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica

Status: Completed

Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Autism

Treatments: Other: control group; Other: Experimental Group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06974240

CNR-IRIB-PRO-2025-003

Details and patient eligibility

About

Socio-pragmatics focuses on the study of language in the context of social interactions. It explores how individuals use language to communicate effectively in specific social situations, taking into consideration the social, cultural and contextual factors that influence communication. Socio-pragmatics analyzes linguistic and nonlinguistic behaviors, such as gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and posture, to understand intended meaning, social implications, and shared communicative norms. Children with autism often present difficulties in social-pragmatic skills.

The integration of advanced technologies can play a crucial role in innovative approaches to the development of this skill.

In this experimental protocol, an attempt will be made to demonstrate the effectiveness of training through the use of social robots by comparing the performance of an ASD group performing a treatment using social robots with a control group performing the same in a traditional manner.

Enrollment: 20 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 8 to 13 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Aged between 8 and 13 years
• Clinical diagnosis of ASD according to DSM-5 criteria by a licensed child neuropsychiatrist
• Verbal and performance IQ > 75 and total IQ > 85, assessed with the WISC-IV
• No current aggressive behavior or severe oppositional tendencies
• No hearing, vision, or physical impairments that could interfere with participation
• Not currently taking any psychotropic medications

Exclusion criteria

• Absence of a clinical diagnosis of ASD based on DSM-5 criteria
• Verbal or performance IQ ≤ 75, or total IQ ≤ 85 as assessed by WISC-IV
• Presence of aggressive behavior or severe oppositional tendencies
• Hearing, vision, or physical impairments that could hinder participation in the intervention
• Current use of psychotropic medications

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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20 participants in 2 patient groups

Experimental Group with social robot

Experimental group

Description:

Ten children with ASD, aged between 8 and 13 years and with verbal IQs above 75, will be included in the trial following an assessment of their socio-pragmatic skills. They will be randomly assigned to either the control group or the experimental group. Participants in the experimental group will undergo an intervention aimed at developing and/or enhancing socio-pragmatic skills through the mediation of a social robot.

Treatment:

Other: Experimental Group

Control Group

Other group

Description:

Ten children with ASD, aged between 8 and 13 years and with verbal IQs above 75, will be included in the trial following an assessment of their socio-pragmatic skills. Children in the control group will follow the same protocol of Experimental Group delivered through a therapist-led group format.

Treatment:

Other: control group